Intellectual property law is an extremely dangerous thing, the scope of which i feel is not properly appreciated. What if fire was subject to patent fees, what

Intellectual property law is an extremely dangerous thing, the scope of which i feel is not properly appreciated. What if fire was subject to patent fees, what if the works of Shakespeare were held under an indefinite copyright, what if the printing press was hobbled by some kind of "copy prevention system". Nobody innovates in a vacuum, borrowing, and yes, outright "ripping off" of ideas, then improving them has been the keystone of human advancement since the dawn of time. The idea that anybody has been entirely original and owns an idea because of this is offensive and counter to everything that has advanced us from apes.